Tag: life

A little break away Part two..

We’ve finished our small break away in the Devon countryside and taken a long and protracted drive across the south of England to the garden of England. Kent.

Devon to Kent

We are here to attend a surprise 50th birthday celebration, and thank god we are not doing anything tonight as I’m absolutely cream crackered (Slang for Knackered). Britains highways are crumbling away and to be honest they are not fit for purpose. An allegedly “fast route” of 250 miles should have taken 4hrs and 55 mins, so we finally arrived at our destination 7hrs and 30 mins later. Awful, and a bloody embarrassment to this island as are all forms of transport we operate in this country. It really is a pathetic state of affairs.

Anyway that aside the last couple of days in Devon were beautiful. I saved a baby rabbit from the attention of a wild cat, our beautiful best friend (our dog Alf) even though extremely ill loved the time with his mate Herbie, they played together and brought smiles to our faces, tears to our eyes and love to our hearts, as anyone who knows Alf, knows this is not expected with his illness, it was lovely to see the old Alf. if only temporarily. He’s a beautiful soul, not an angry bone in his body. Just a gorgeous little dog.

Baby Rabbit

We’ve headed off to Kent now whilst Alf has headed back to the East Midlands in the company of my Brother and Sister in law who know how to look after him and how to treat his illness. We will be back with him in a couple of days.

Alf and Herbie.

Now in Kent we’ve booked in at our hotel that is a lot less luxurious than the farmhouse in Devon, but comfortable all the same. A quick visit to my Sisters for a Coffee and whilst sitting in her back garden we get dive bombed by a juvenile Seagull on its first flight. But he seems unable to get airborne so his parents start to dive bomb us in the garden, protecting their young I suspect.

Baby Seagull

So what with all the chaos that has prevailed, with all the noise and aerial activity we have decided to retreat indoors to leave them to it. Hopefully they’ll be able to get junior airborne once again.

Back to the hotel as tiredness has silenced me and I need some rest. Tomorrow we are off to the dog racing in Sittingbourne for a meal and some light entertainment. Hopefully there will be no further animal shenanigans.

Peace to you all.

A little break away

Not been answering the standard sometimes mind numbing questions that WP throws out on a daily basis as I’m currently enjoying some time away in and around the coast of Devon. Family time, good food and drink and company and a few nice little walks away from it all on my own some.

Beer – Seaton – Beer. Lovely walk
A little east Devon walk

I’ve been swimming and taken loads of photos, here are a selection below.

Rose and Crown Bath
Rose and Crown Bath
Alf having some icecream
Our accommodation in Devon
Our dining room in Devon
View of our accommodation in Devon
Our pool
A selection of local beers
The orchard and the dog
Beer
Beer high street
Beer high street
Dogs more welcome than humans
Beer beach
Beer high street
Poetry post
View in to Beer
Marshmallows and chocolate digestives

We’ve brought our dog Alf with us as it’s probably the last holiday he’ll have with us due to his illness. He’s thoroughly enjoying it and tiring him self out constantly. It’s lovely and we are all enjoying our time with him. Time is precious.

I’ll return to normal operation when we get back if I can be arsed. Having too much of a good time.

Have a pleasant day everyone.

That’s all folks

List 10 things you know to be absolutely certain.

  • You will be born
  • You will live a life
  • You will be taxed for everything
  • You will make good choices
  • You will make bad decisions
  • You will experience deep joy
  • You will experience excruciating pain
  • You will grieve
  • You will love
  • You will die

You choose your direction in life. Make it good.

Peace to all.

Neither, I believe

Are you seeking security or adventure?

I have security in particular aspects. My job and my relationship being the main ones.

Adventure, nah I’ve done all of that, I’ve got numerous tee shirts to prove it.

For me it’s now comfort. I have it in my relationship but not my job. I have itchy feet in that aspect.

When I’m in a position to vacate this role I would have then found the comfort I seek.

It will come.

Patience young man….

Retirement beckons

The Gall of it

Have you ever had surgery? What for?

Fortunately I have only had two operations in my life. The first was for a knee damaged whilst running. Not in one particular run, but over a period of time as I did most of my running on hard surfaces. This aggravated my right knee and I had to have debridement of the knee cap as it had developed spurs that were aggravating the tendons and such. The op went ok but it has never been the same since. That op was around 2005, I’ve never run since. Hey ho.

London Marathon 2002

The other operation was my Gall bladder. I’d developed what they call a porcelain Gall bladder, this means the actual organ had started to calcify, and the pain I experienced in the months prior to this operation I would not wish on my worst enemy, it was awful.

That operation was a total success and everything has been fine since. I even to this day have a fairly substantial collection of stones in a medical sample pot that were handed over to me after the operation as evidence of what I’d been carrying.

Gall stones

Now if I have guests who have overstayed their welcome, a quick shake of the sample pot and starting to talk about my operation is normally sufficient enough to get them putting their coats on and saying their goodbyes.

Have a safe and happy day.

Anything interesting happened today?

What notable things happened today?

It’s just after 5 in the morning and the only notable thing that has occurred so far today is that I have woken up.

And to be honest for everyone that’s no mean feat. The fact we have awoken from our slumber is something to be grateful for. You have another day on this planet, another go at trying to have a good day, another day to mend relationships and to forgive those little misdemeanours and mistakes.

Another chance to be a better person.

I’ve had my first cup of tea of the day and my next big decision is whether to make another.

Tea – typically British

Start the day with a blank canvas, and go paint a masterpiece.

Hopefully you’ll get another go at it tomorrow. You just never know.

Just do it. And enjoy it.

Happy days all.

Is it worth being Passionate?

What are you passionate about?

I only ask, as being passionate in anything sometimes makes people question if you are just being obsessive in your actions.

There’s obsession in relationships that can more often than not be one sided, and lead to a number of unwanted and uncomfortable situations and poor behavioural traits such as stalking.

There is passion in your work, that can also lead to you being seen as a person who doesn’t see black and white, there’s no other option it’s your way or no way!

Passion seems to partner obsession in my opinion, maybe I’m looking to deep and need to step off the gas a little.

What am I passionate (obsessed) with then?

I’m passionate about time keeping, and competence. I simply hate incompetence in anything and it is one of my pet peeves.

I guess I’ve woken up in probably not one of the best frames of mind to answer this question. I’m passionate about a good nights sleep though, but that’s about as rare as rocking horse s**t these days.

Keep obsessing all…

The ability to breathe

What’s the one luxury you can’t live without?

A bit of overthinking and triteness here but I can happily live without luxuries of the consumer kind.

Breathing you will say is not a luxury, it’s as natural as night follows day. But when the ability to do it properly is removed, it becomes a luxury.

Asthma inhalers (Internet)

As a kid I struggled with endless breathing issues and chest infections. Bronchitis has featured heavily in my life along with Asthma and they still haunt me to this very day. In fact over recent months I’ve noticed a quite dramatic decline in my ability to control the condition, as well as other unknown symptoms creeping in. But I’ll hopefully get that looked at when I have my yearly asthma review on Tuesday.

There is nothing quite like being able to get your lungs full of fresh air and not be constantly fighting to catch your breath. But that hasn’t happened for a long time and I miss that.

I’ve never smoked but my parents were chain smokers so I guess I was a passive smoker from an early age. I personally hold them both to blame for what I have suffered over the years, and that is why i hate smoking with a passion. I had to watch my brother die from Lung cancer and that wasn’t pretty, it was horrendous. He was a smoker.

So for me breathing is a luxury that I can’t live without, yes I know you are saying that’s the same for us all – you fool! And you’d be right of course. But for me it is the quality of good unhindered breathing I miss, and that’s a luxury I’m probably never going to experience again.

Don’t poison yourself people, your body doesn’t require it, and you will definitely regret it in later life.

Enjoy that deep satisfying breath of fresh air. It really is an indication that life is good for you if you can.

Here endeth today’s lesson.

The simple joys of a garden

To many it probably looks a mess. To me it’s a place of happiness, it’s an art work being constantly touched up, it’s a labour of love. Six years after I started this garden it’s now finally starting to take shape and today I even had the wife’s seal of approval. And that crowns it for me.

My garden

People watch these shows on tv and instantly expect a beautiful renovated instant garden. This simply doesn’t happen.

My garden has been a massive experiment over the years. I’ve lost count of the amount of different plants I’ve placed only for each of them to fail after one season, then you have to ask the reasons why.

Our front garden is Sth facing so I have sun on that most of the day and plants like Lavender and lilac always display spectacularly, baskets and salvias love the front garden, but the front is not as advanced as my back garden, and I’m going to give it attention towards the end of this summer. I’m currently adding plants one at a time. The aim here is a typical country garden in the middle of a city. It’s a challenge.

Lavender and Californian lilac

However my back garden naturally is North facing, with only a glimmer of sunshine, so I have to plant here accordingly. Because of my neighbours, all who love concrete, and who have no green space, my garden naturally suffers from excess water run off from their properties.

I have introduced Hornbeam hedging only a few months ago that again will take time to mature, I have planted a number of ornamental trees to assist with drainage and things are looking positive. The plants I have in place are all bee friendly. We have loads of them as well as butterflies, lady birds and other insect life. I also have a small section near a small rockery area that I have left wilded, the flowers here blend in beautifully. I have a lot of wildlife in this garden, I have some small birds such as wrens going through the bushes that we have never seen here before, we have blackbirds, Robins, blue tits, finches and the pigeons and the magpies who are the antisocial members of the bird family. We also have the occasional Red Kite soar overhead, it’s amazing how the Pigeons and Magpies disappear when they are around. And naturally being the county of the Fox, they are also regular visitors.

And my garden is small, it’s only about 50ft square, and about a mile or so from the city centre.

I have a feral cat who has been a resident here long before we were, and she even chases the foxes who also enter the garden. Just take a look of her protecting the garden from a fox in this small video below:

Cat chasing Fox

The crowning glory is that we have regular hedgehog visitors. We leave nibbles and water out for them at night, we have introduced a highway through the garden with access from our property to others. We have ramps in place alongside the steps to help them about the property. Seeing we are right in the city we are probably one of only a few places of peace and serenity for them in this mad crazy town.

One of our regular visitors
Highways and visitors

I really feel for those that don’t have access to a garden, it really is a place where you can lose yourself. It’s your own constantly developing work of art. I love having visitors to the garden, I love showing them what we have done and what we have planned, and I love helping people transform and achieve their little works of art. My garden has been a life saver for me, and allowed me to maintain my sanity when it all starts getting a bit too much.

Gardens should be compulsory, but unfortunately in this super high speed world, people just want everything low maintenance and that’s a shame.

Don’t even mention imitation grass to me – it should be banned.

The wife said, “You were right, you said it would take time, it looks lovely.” And that meant the world to me.

Thanks for passing by.

15 minutes of fame….

Have you ever appeared on the Television?

From Series 9 Episode 26 broadcast on 29/07/15
The Barrister is on fine form but will Hayley and Dave be able to walk away with £7,000?

The Chase

I was just looking around what’s on my YouTube channel and to be honest there’s not a great deal. However I saw this little nugget of Tv gold and thought I’d share it with you.

Me – on the Chase

Yep that’s me almost 9 years ago when I had most of my faculties about me, what went wrong?

I had my hour of fame to be honest and in the end myself and Hayley came away with a win. My share went towards a kitchen we were installing at the time and I believe Hayley, who was a student nurse at the time was going to put it towards her first car.

Me with Sean Wallace – The Chase

Sean Wallace the chaser was a lovely guy. Nothing like his tv persona, he came and met up with us after filming and was a right charmer. I have met him since travelling on the Bakerloo underground line as I believe he used to live in and around the Willesden area in London.

Perhaps I need to get one of those “I beat the chaser” tee shirts.

It was a fun day and created a lot of good memories.